The art of horsemanship is grown from the practice of connection not the practice of force. The art of horsemanship is developed from the practice of growing your leadership at the edge of your ability because at this point it causes you to consider your actions, which are the natural instincts of a leader.

I have now really lost interest in reaching goals and am now more interested in experimenting in how to develop a partnership with horses from the natural evolution that springs forth from sharing moments in unity and harmony and the horse guiding my journey and decisions in my leadership choices. I used to use more of my God given talent for making connection, changes for the better and performance and was really great at pushing the limits whilst keeping the connection. However, I am now looking to use less talent and gain more support from the evolution that happens naturally.

I would love to hear from all of you what your journey is right now in your relationship with horses. The personal challenges that you are working out for yourself, your sacred walk and what you are hoping to achieve in the art of horsemanship and … Read more

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Julia and I worked with Stoli today. First, we kept him company to start our daily work. He is now feeling a bond with both of us and even enjoying our company.

We are working on body releasing techniques to get him to release any bad memories that could get in the way of his willingness from trust issues in the past. Body work helps a horse to feel safe enough to be intimate with you and this is important. If a horse will not allow you to be intimate with him it is not a good idea in general to think about riding because it sets an attitude of not being fluid and fluidity is very important in dressage. Since Stoli is 21 years old he needs all the fluidity he can get. We discovered Stoli is an amazingly agile horse and loves doing carrot stretches and this one in particular as you can see below:

Stoli doing his agile excercise – he offered this to us completely umprompted

He is a great lesson horse for Julia because he is very locked in some areas and is responding very slowly, which is giving her plenty of practice. We found … Read more

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A lot happens in small increments. This is where magic is grown.

At the Ranch today we were acclimatizing a horse by the name of Stoli to the ranch and developing a bond with him using the first Waterhole Ritual™. He is a 21 year old ex racehorse that is a schoolmaster in lower level dressage. He is quite nicely trained, very health and moves around like a young horse. He has a problem though of being quite barn sour and does not really enjoy peoples company but he does like his dressage work. He likes to kick other horses and has made a deep bond with his next door neighbor. He has been on the ranch for over a week and is taking his time in wanting to connect with us.

I have leased him from a friend for my apprentice Julia Felton who is with me for a period of three months. She is here to learn my method and study dressage training and riding. Our trade is that she his helping me to finish my book as well as helping me with my daily responsibilities. In return, I am coaching her on the Waterhole Rituals™ and giving … Read more

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If you have not read The Songs of the Horses by Paul Belasik I would like to recommend it. I have found this book to be one of my favorite books on the subject of developing horsemanship skills through the original and organic experience. I would also like to recommend a book by Jenny Rolfe, Ride from the Heart. Her subject is classical training and riding as well as dressage. I have not read the whole book yet but what I have read has been very moving and important to developing the awareness and attitude needed for the optimal relationship between a human and a horse. Jenny wrote a whole chapter on breathing. I am in the stage of carrying her book with me in hopes of having a moment I can read some more pages.

As my Inner Circle group is moving on towards the last Waterhole Ritual, Dancing with your Horse (Go Trot and Come Up), I want to offer some support that I think will help everyone that is working on this Ritual or will be soon.

You are ready to start with this ritual when your horse has a strong magnetic connection with you in … Read more

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The art of horsemanship starts every day not at the end of the journey. It starts with the first breath and at the moment you and your horse are in the same state of awareness in harmony. It takes a spiritual journey to develop a partnership with a horse. It takes consistently focusing on keeping the magnetic connection alive between you and your horse by managing the relationship and keeping the training on the horse as well as adding training. This keeps the horse young and motivated.

Working a horse at liberty gives the horse a sense of freedom and the horse can express himself more honestly. From this honesty, you can see more how to approach your training. The other aspect of working a horse at liberty is that a horse will trust you more, bringing out the side of his nature to follow your lead naturally.

The act of controlling a horse will develop a horse that needs to be controlled. What would be better is that the horse is more than willing to perform and take direction. Taking the time to get a horse to volunteer his performance is fun and life enhancing and will achieve a … Read more

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Hi there again. Before I go on to today’s blog, I wanted to thank everyone who wrote in with suggestions for Cat, I really appreciate all the kind thoughts and advice. Thank you too for all the poems, it was really lovely reading them and discovering new treasures.

OK, on to today’s blog post. Many people ask me what is the best way to use a bit in training a horse and so I thought I would write and tell you the approach I use.

Before you even start to introduce a bit, first make sure your horse is bonded to you at liberty through the seven strings of heartfelt connection using the Waterhole Rituals. Make sure your horse is the kind of horse that loves learning and following your lead and being ridden. I do not use a bit until I have trained my horse to perform three speeds of walk, trot and canter from the ground and also whilst riding, along with having a good stop and go button on him.

I also want to be able to lead my horse from behind and Companion Walk him in walk and trot on a course with turns and straight … Read more

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Hi again. As you may know, I have a horse named Cat. Unfortunately Cat has not been well over the past couple of weeks but is now doing better although I suspect that the medicine is what is really working for him. I believe he still has a lot to healing left to do. Cat has a level 2 ulcer and has been put on GastroGard for 30 days. I also have him on Allay, a licorice based product.

I want to thank everyone who sent in their suggestions. From all your suggestions, I decided to but him on clay and probiotics and the Allay, plus I am feeding him every four hours except at night. I feed him last thing at night between 10-11pm and then in the morning between 5.30–6.30am. I also think it this is very helpful. I changed his paddock which he seems to like. However, I would like to find a Bach Flower remedy for him.

I am posting some pictures of Cat so that the people who offered a reading on him might have some more insight to how to make him more comfortable. I also have Adrienne Moore a highly recommended vet and … Read more

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